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Japan
''Survivor: Japan ''was the sixty-fourth season of Survivor. The season ended when Ross won the title of Sole Survivor, beating Jacob by a 4-1 jury vote at the Final Tribal Council. The season featured 16 contestants dubbed as "castaways" marooned on two separate beaches in Japan. They were divided into two tribes: Kazan in red and Shimu in purple. The tribe names are Japanese words. Kazan means volcano and Shimu means water. On Day 36, the tribes merged into the black Shinto tribe, named for the famed shinto shrines. The main twist this season was the near lack of a merge. Whereas past seasons featured small merges, such as Survivor: Panama and Survivor: Micronesia, this season only saw a merge at 4 and a jury of five, the smallest percentage of castaways used for usual post-merge positions. Producers stated they wanted to see what would happen if there was simply not a merge. This was a bold move, however, as past elongated pre-merges were met with negative reviews, with the exception of Panama. This season was no different. The original plan was to implement a tribe switch during Episode 5, a mutiny during Episode 8, and a final tribe switch in Episode 12. When the Kazan tribe was continuously losing, producers moved the mutiny forward, which proved eventful. The other tribe switches were shelved. Critics said that had there been more tribe switches, there would have been more tribal interaction and therefore more interesting moments. Critics deemed this season to be one of the worst to date. EW said, "By putting more emphasis on twists rather than cast, producers are relying on an equal balance, which is very hard to do. Had they mixed it up and forced the contestants to act, we would have been more entertained than watching seven people demoralized, starving, near death, just sad that the merge has not come yet. The merge at four is not even a merge. This season was an awful, awful choice so far into the show's run." Similarly, SUG said, "What happened? You would think that all those years of bad decisions would eradicate something like this. But this was just awful. I would never watch this season again. Also, the jury of five needs to stop. It worked once, but not this time." At the first tribal council of the merged tribe, the vote resulted in a tie. Usually at the final four, a tie results in a firemaking tiebreaker. However, due to a poor season, producers hoped to amp the show by resorting to a purple rock. This was met with more negative reviews. From then on, the rules were soldiifed so that a tie at the final four would result in a firemaking tiebreaker. At the finale of this season, James announced the discontinuation of the Player of the Season and the Entertainment Awards. Contestants *When the vote resulted in a tie, Chad drew the purple rock and was eliminated. The Game Voting History *When the vote resulted in a tie, Chad drew the purple rock and was eliminated. Jury Vote Category:Seasons